Whether you’re six or sixty, a walk in the woods is one of the best things you can do. The fresh air is brilliant for both your physical and mental health, and it connects you to nature in a way that we sometimes don’t even realise we’re lacking when we live busy lives and spend lots of time in towns and cities.Children have great fun stomping through undergrowth, climbing fallen trees and making up games using their imagination, prowling through the great outdoors while they pretend to be dinosaurs and hunters and outlaws. But, sometimes a simple walk in the woods doesn’t quite cut it. Instead, it needs to have a little more structure to it, especially if you’re out and about with little ones who are feeling fatigued. So, how about presenting your children with a nature trail checklist? A checklist will make a woodland walk interesting, helping you and your children to spot things you wouldn’t usually notice and encouraging those little legs to walk further without complaint.

Print off the list of things to find below, and get wrapped in your best quality outdoor clothes – it’s time for an adventure!

Can you find…

a nibbled leaf

an animal footprint in the mud

a smooth pebble

a soft feather

SPRING

a lacy leaf skeleton

a prickly pine needle

a silky flower petal

a dewy blade of grass

a sticky leaf bud

a yellow daffodil

a glistening snail trail

Photo by Alex Blăjan on Unsplash

SUMMER

a buzzing bumblebee

a ladybird with four spots on her back

a colony of busy ants

a fuzzy caterpillar

a long-legged grasshopper

a butterfly dancing on the breeze

a clump of stinging nettles

AUTUMN

a silky spider’s web

a shiny conker

a spiky conker case

a wisp of mist

a leaf the colour of a pumpkin

a wriggly worm

WINTER

a frost-covered leaf

a fallen pine cone

a cluster of ruby-red berries

a glossy holly leaf

Touch something that is…

prickly

silky

sludgy

scratchy

Can you hear…

twittering birds

cracking twigs

rustling leaves

running water

Point to something that is…

brown

green

red

yellow

Can you count…

3 mushrooms

5 twigs

2 fallen trees

1 stream

4 birds

As you can see, there are plenty of things on this list to find in the woods. However, some of them are best suited to particular times of the year, so consider printing it off in sections and taking it along on your woodland walks over the next twelve months – it’s a great way to make sure your family is getting enough time with nature and noticing the beauty of the world around them. And if you’d like some more scavenger hunt inspiration, check out the resources from the Woodland Trust – they have lots of fun activities to try with your little ones.

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